Without congressional reauthorization, the
inappropriately named “Protect America Act,” will expire in February, and the
Democratic leadership has promised to revisit this unconstitutional law. The
ACLU insists if any legislation is passed it should adhere to the following
basic blueprint:

The government
should receive only the information it is authorized to intercept by law, it
should not be given direct and unfettered access to telecommunications
infrastructure. The telecommunications industry should be responsible for
collecting and isolating targeted communications.

The Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) must play a meaningful role in ensuring
compliance with the law.

When the government
intercepts a communication to which a person in the U.S. is
a party, the NSA should be required to immediately destroy that communication –
except in narrowly defined circumstances which would require judicial
oversight.

Once the government
believes that a person under
surveillance will have significant contact with someone in the United
States, the government should be required to
get an order from the FISC to continue that surveillance.

Congress should also
oppose any attempts to grant telecommunications companies amnesty for helping
the NSA spy on innocent Americans.

By following this basic blueprint, lawmakers will
protect the privacy rights of innocent Americans and ensure that the law adheres
to the Fourth Amendment. Americans have had their phone calls and records
illegally released to the government. “If Congress swoops in now to stop the
telecoms from being held accountable for their illegal actions, companies will
have no reason to follow the law in the future,” said Fredrickson.

The new law passed this summer, allows the government to
intercept – without a court order – the calls and emails of Americans who are
communicating with people in other countries. Congress passed this law even
though the White House still refuses to comply with congressional subpoenas
seeking information about the NSA wiretapping program. We still don’t know how
many Americans have been spied on or what is being done with the information
that is collected.

“The ACLU believes that our nation’s surveillance laws
can effectively target terrorists without jeopardizing the rights of innocent
Americans. We look forward to working with Congress to make certain America
remains both safe and free,” said ACLU Senior Legislative Counsel Tim
Sparapani.